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Gilbert Wins Stage 7 of Tour of Missouri; Zabriskie Takes Overall Win

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Gilbert Wins Stage 7 of Tour of Missouri; Zabriskie Takes Overall Win

It was more than just an advancing cold front that raced into the Midwest today, as Canadian Martin Gilbert (Planet Energy) sprinted to the line in front of countryman Andrew Pinfold (OUCH p/b Maxxis) for victory in Stage 7. Norway’s Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) finished third, his sixth trip to the podium in seven days at this week’s Tour of Missouri. The winning time of Stage 7 was 2 hours, 33 minutes, 11 seconds.

National World War I Museum, and the other at Summit Street provided a panoramic view of downtown Kansas City.

Three riders made the first successful break of the day 15 miles into the race, Danish rider Nicki Sørensen (Saxo Bank), American Christopher Jones (Team Type 1), and Swiss rider Gregory Rast (Astana). On the fourth lap in K.C., Iowa-native Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank) and Danish teammate Chris Anker Sorensen bridged the gap from the peloton to help their teammate. A sixth rider joined the break on Lap 5, Canadian Michael Barry (Columbia-HTC), who was awarded the Drury Hotels Most Aggressive Rider jersey. This group built a lead of 45 seconds, but was caught on the final circuit. From there, Garmin-Slipstream and Cervelo Test Team had to reel in a solo break by Aussie Michael Rogers (Columbia-HTC) and this set up a bunch sprint for the final stage.

In the final award jersey presentations for the week, Thor Hushovd won the Edward Jones Sprint jersey, Dario Cataldo (QuickStep) of Italy won the 180 Energy/ Icelandic Glacial Water Best Young Rider jersey, and Moises Aldape (Team Type I) of Mexico won the Michelob Ultra KOM jersey. Team Saxo Bank was recognized as the Best Team. The 2008 Tour of Missouri champion Christian Vande Velde had to withdraw from the race on Stage 2 because of a broken bone in his right hand, suffered in a Stage 1 crash.

"I’m very proud of Dave (Zabriskie) and the team for what they accomplished this week – the Tour of Missouri looked very hard again this year. It was important for me to come back and watch with the guys," said Vande Velde, who returned to the Tour Sunday to support his team. "The crowds and the support were amazing. It was great to watch the team win from the other side of the fence," Vande Velde said in Kansas City.